If Caterpillar can win a nine figure tax abatement in Lafayette with zero new jobs disclosed, what standard do we use to justify our own capital projects to our board and community?

Build the public benefit case around equipment modernization and safety, not headcount, and have those numbers ready before you ask a council for anything, because Indiana's legislative interim committee is actively reviewing whether no new job abatements like this one deliver what they promise.

Could a fleet only, low speed vehicle regulatory path like the one Toyota just used for the KEI-01 help us bring a lower cost specialty product to market without full federal crash certification?

Possibly, if your product can be capped at 25 mph and sold initially to fleet buyers rather than retail customers, that classification lets Toyota skip passenger car crash testing entirely, and it is worth having your engineering team check whether a similar product fits the same federal low speed vehicle definition.

With Mount Vernon becoming the only Western Hemisphere source for Lexan polycarbonate resin, are our supply contracts locked in before that concentration starts moving price?

Check your NexPoint or broader PC and PBT buyer contracts now, before the Burkville shutdown completes near the end of March 2027, because a single source supplier has no competitive reason to hold pricing once the Alabama plant is gone.

With Simtra and INCOG both scaling sterile injectable capacity in Indiana, could we supply either site as an equipment, packaging, or logistics vendor instead of watching this capital spending happen around us?

Reach out to Simtra's Bloomington procurement team or INCOG's Fishers site directly, both are adding lines through 2027 to 2030 and need vendors for equipment, packaging, and logistics well before those lines go live.

Manufacturing News TEG Daily

November 12, 2026 · Tippecanoe · Gibson · Posey · Monroe

Caterpillar's Lafayette Tax Abatement, Toyota's Princeton Mini Truck, and Three Other Developments Indiana Manufacturers Need to Track

Caterpillar's $890M Lafayette abatement, Toyota's Princeton mini truck, and three more Indiana manufacturing developments operators need to track this week.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Caterpillar just locked in an $890 million Lafayette expansion tax abatement without disclosing a single new job attached to it, Toyota is building a 25 mph mini truck in Princeton, a plastics maker is folding more than a third of U.S. polycarbonate capacity into Mount Vernon, and Simtra opened a quarter billion dollar drug plant in Bloomington. Here is what each one means for your operation this week.

01Tippecanoe

Caterpillar's $890 Million Lafayette Expansion Tax Abatement Passes With Zero New Jobs

The Lafayette City Council voted unanimously on September 9 to approve two 10 year tax abatements, $540 million on real estate and $350 million on personal property, backing Caterpillar's $890 million modernization of Building B, the original engine plant where it makes the C175 and 3600 large engine platforms. Combined with the $725 million project approved in 2024, Caterpillar's planned Lafayette investment now totals roughly $1.6 billion.

For the huddle: If we sought a major local abatement purely for equipment modernization with zero net-new headcount, could we make the same public-benefit case Caterpillar just won unanimously in Lafayette?

SourcesCaterpillar stock: $890 million Lafayette expansion approved - ad-hoc-news.de (ad-hoc-news.de)

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02Gibson

Toyota's $34 Million KEI-01 Line Lands in Princeton to Dodge a 25 Percent Tariff

Toyota Motor North America will invest $34 million at its Princeton plant to build the KEI-01, the first model under the Scion by Toyota brand as it returns, with production beginning in the latter half of 2027 and roughly 50 jobs being added. Plant president Jason Puckett said work has already started on the 660cc, right hand drive utility truck, which is capped at 25 mph and classified as a federal low speed vehicle.

For the huddle: Could a fleet-only, low-speed-vehicle regulatory pathway let us bring a lower-cost specialty vehicle or equipment line to market without full federal crash-test certification?

SourcesToyota Indiana to build revived Scion brand’s first vehicle, adding about 50 jobs in Princeton (duboiscountyfreepress.com)

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03Statewide

Governor Braun Ties the Toyota Deal to Japan Trade Diplomacy

Governor Mike Braun announced the Toyota Princeton expansion on November 10, framing it alongside Commerce Secretary Chuck Goodrich's October trade trip to Japan and September's joint meeting of the Midwest U.S. Japan Association in Indianapolis. Braun's office counts Toyota among nearly 300 Japanese affiliated facilities in Indiana supporting almost 62,000 Hoosier jobs statewide, and points to Indiana's number one manufacturing hub ranking from Business Facilities this year.

For the huddle: Are we actively using Indiana's Japanese-business relationships (nearly 300 facilities and 62,000 jobs strong) to attract suppliers or customers into our own supply chain?

SourcesGov. Braun Grows Manufacturing Jobs with Multi-Million-Dollar Toyota Investment (wbiw.com)

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04Posey

NexPoint Closes Alabama Plant, Makes Mount Vernon the Only Western Hemisphere Polycarbonate Producer

NexPoint Materials announced on November 4 that it will close its Burkville, Alabama polycarbonate plant, the largest PC facility in the Western Hemisphere at 36 percent of U.S. nameplate capacity, by the end of the first quarter of 2027, moving Lexan brand resin and compounding production to its Mount Vernon, Indiana site in Posey County. CEO Sanjay Mishra cited market share that no longer supports existing capacity and rising foreign competition.

For the huddle: As Mount Vernon becomes the sole Western Hemisphere source for Lexan PC resin, are our contracts with NexPoint (or any PC/PBT buyer relationships) locked in before that supply concentration starts moving price?

SourcesNexPoint Materials to close Burkville manufacturing site in 2027, move production to Indiana (wsfa.com)

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05Monroe

Simtra Opens $250 Million Building H Expansion in Bloomington

Simtra BioPharma Solutions, the CDMO spun out of Baxter, held a ribbon cutting on November 9 for Building H, a 153,000 square foot, more than $250 million sterile injectable expansion at its Bloomington campus, adding two Bausch and Strobel prefilled syringe lines and one IMA vial and lyophilizer line. CEO Franco Negron, COO Ray Guidotti, and VP Pat Adams say the project created roughly 450 construction jobs and about 100 permanent positions so far, pushing Simtra's company wide filling capacity from 11 lines to 18 by 2027 and Bloomington headcount toward 2,000.

For the huddle: With Simtra and INCOG both scaling sterile-injectable capacity in Indiana, could we supply either site as an equipment, packaging, or logistics vendor rather than watching the capex happen around us?

SourcesSimtra opens $250M sterile injectable manufacturing addition in Indiana (hoodline.com)

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